XXIII. subduing stormy assemblies, but she has in a great degree CHAP. made up for the deficiency by the gift of the prudence and judgment which succeed in the end in leading them. 1830. dity and Sydney Smith has said, that such is Lord John Rus- 20. sell's confidence in himself, that he would, with equal His intrepireadiness, at a moment's warning, assume the lead of the self-confiHouse of Commons, or take the command of the Channel dence. fleet, or undertake to cut for the stone. Assuming that the celebrated discourser has here strained somewhat for the sake of point, it is evident, from Lord John Russell's public career, that there is some truth in the assertion, though his success in literature and biography by no means warrants the belief that the confidence is well founded. On several important occasions he has shown that he does not shrink from responsibility, and that, supported only by courage and conscious rectitude, he can engage fearlessly in the most hazardous undertakings. His conduct as the leader of the House of Commons on occasion of the Reform Bill in 1831, and the war with Russia in 1854, and of Cardinal Wiseman's assumption of titles when he was prime-minister, sufficiently demonstrates this. Unfortunately, his colleagues in the Cabinet are not always possessed of the same determination, and thus it has not unfrequently happened that the most intrepid denunciations on his part have been followed by no corresponding state measures, and thus have entirely lost their effect. In one respect his conduct has always been worthy of the very highest admiration he never shirks responsibility, but, on the contrary, not only takes his full share of it when his own, but generously comes forward to divide with others a responsibility which belongs to their department, and with which his connection is more nominal than real-a conduct which has done more than anything else to win for him the respect of the country, for the obvious reason that it is the rarest quality in public men, and the one CHAP. which most observers feel themselves least competent to XXIII. 1830. 21. bourne. imitate. LORD MELBOURNE was a man of very different abilities Lord Mel- and character from the eminent ones which have now been drawn ; but he has occupied too important a position in the councils of his Sovereign, on her first accession to the throne, and for some years after, not to deserve a distinguished place in a contemporary gallery of state portraits. If his talents were not of the highest order, they were of the kind of all others best adapted for the important and responsible duty to which he was called, of guiding a youthful Queen in the first and most important years of her reign. To great and almost unrivalled powers of conversation he united the charm of the highest breeding, and the grace of the most polished manner. A man of the world in every sense of the word, he had mingled in all its circles only to glean from each what rendered him a delightful companion, a brilliant ornament to the most elevated. His store of anecdote was immense, and related to the most interesting characters; his felicity in recounting them equal to the tact with which they were given out or withheld. An accomplished classical scholar, and well versed in the traditional history of great families, he had little information on the subjects required by a statesman, and took his opinion on the measures brought forward rather from the authority of others than his own reflection. Yet his suavity of disposition and courtesy of manner conquered all opposition; and when, as prime-minister, he gave in the House of Lords, with perfect nonchalance, in answer to a question put to him, "I really know nothing at all about the matter," there was a loud laugh from all sides, and no farther inquiries were made. The truth was, all parties, and especially those of them who were nearest the throne, were aware of the vast importance of the duties which, when prime-minister, he discharged as councillor and almost guardian of our present gracious XXIII. 1830. Sovereign in her early years; and if we are to judge of CHAP. the debt of gratitude which the nation owes him for the manner in which he discharged them, from the strict propriety and wisdom of her Majesty's conduct ever since her accession to the throne, the debt is great indeed.. 22. Graham : powers. SIR JAMES GRAHAM owes more to natural advantages than any of the statesmen who have been mentioned. A Sir James tall and commanding figure, handsome countenance, and his admipowerful sonorous voice, give him the superiority in nistrative debate which, in civil almost as much as military contests, these qualities never fail to confer; and to these he unites administrative and oratorical talents of a very high order. As First Lord of the Admiralty on the Whigs' accession to office in 1830, and again when the Russian war broke out in 1854, he evinced a degree of vigour and capacity which was appreciated and acknowledged by all parties; and he displayed equal ability as Home Secretary during a very trying time, from 1841 to 1846. Indefatigable in his attention to business, and endowed with great powers of application, he is always prepared on his own subjects; and, unlike Lord Melbourne, can give a satisfactory answer to every question put regarding them. The expression of his countenance has a supercilious cast, a quality which has been complained of of him in official intercourse, though none is more bland or courteous in private society. He is a powerful debater, as well from the cogency of argument employed as the stores of information displayed, and is excelled by none in the rare and effective power of reply. Occasionally, though not frequently, he rises to the highest flights of eloquence. 23. sistencies. Inconsistency is his great defect, and his reputation has suffered more from this peculiarity than that of His inconLord Palmerston, who is also chargeable with it, because he has at different times taken more decided and contradictory views on the same question. There is hardly a subject of importance discussed of late years on which XXIII. 1830. CHAP. there will not be found, in the parliamentary debates, an admirable refutation of a previous equally admirable argument on the opposite side, of this skilful rhetorician. This, however, is the fault of the age and circumstances under which he lived, rather than of the individual man. Such is the mutability of general opinion in every popular government, that the rulers of the State can only maintain their ascendancy by changing with it. The philosopher may be consistent, because his aim is the discovery of truth, which is ever the same; the historian, because he traces the unchanging laws of the social order through all the mutations of fortune. But the statesman in a popular community, who aims at the enjoyment of power, can attain it only by the suffrages of the multitude, and to gain them he must often share its mutability. Consistency in such a case is a passport to ultimate fame, but it leads to present downfall. 24. announce of government. Nov. 22. Such were the chiefs of the liberal party, who now Earl Grey's succeeded to power, and in whose hands, with a few brief ment of his intermissions, the government of the country has since principles been constantly vested. Earl Grey, immediately after his accession to office, made the following profession of the principles of his administration, which diffused general satisfaction : 66 Prominently, and in the foreground, I place Reform in Parliament. I have, when out of office, declared that that great question could be satisfactorily introduced by the Government alone, and that the Government ought immediately to propound some measure concerning it. What out of office I have professed, I am now in office about to perform; and I promise that a proposal for the reform of our representative system shall be introduced immediately for the consideration of Parliament. It shall be a proposal not of any wild or unreasoning change, not of universal suffrage, not a mere theory of pretended accuracy and efficiency. I desire to stand as much as possible on the fixed and settled institutions of the country. What I seek to do is all that is XXIII. 1830. necessary to secure to the people a due influence in the CHAP. great Council of the nation, and to secure by that means confidence and satisfaction in the determinations of Parliament. Anything short of this will be insufficient. But while seeking for this end, I am anxious not to disturb, by violent changes, the established principles and practice of the constitution. To such a measure I have secured his Majesty's assent. The important matter of the poor will also be considered, and the laws which regulate the provision which the State makes for them. The whole and earnest attention of my colleagues and myself shall be directed to economy in every department Parliament, 1830, § ii. of the State, and every saving that can possibly be made 310. shall be adopted with the most unflinching severity." 1 Mirror of 25. state of The England during the After a few routine measures had passed, Parliament adjourned to the 9th February. The interim was a Distracted state of great alarm and anxiety in England. southern counties around London were, as Lord Grey winter. afterwards said in Parliament, " in a state of open insurrection;" and midnight fires or predial outrages seemed to have been imported into the peaceful realm of England from the distracted and wasted fields of Ireland. The special commission, however, which was opened in December, had a salutary effect: the execution of some desperadoes, convicted of fire-raising, spread a universal terror among the peasantry, and the transportation of great numbers of others, at length arrested the disorders which had attained so alarming a height. But the excitement in the towns was not so easily appeased. Public meetings were everywhere held, in many cases presided over by distinguished members of the Whig aristocracy, at which the most inflammatory language was used. Constant reference was made to the armed insurrection which had overthrown the government in France and Belgium, and hints given that, if the English aristocracy adopted a similar system of resistance to the public voice, their fate might be the same. These threats |